100% organic DWC tent grow

Hello Cannabis users!
I am currently starting my first solo grow and have decided to share my progress, findings and mishaps with everyone to receive input. I am going to grow DWC, vegging under T5s and budding under a 1000W HPS. The entire grow is indoors in grow tents.

My current strains:
GreenHouse Seeds Trainwreck Feminized (5)
Greenhouse Seeds Super Lemon Haze Feminized (5)
Barney's Farm Seeds Vanilla Kush (5)
Female Seeds Grapefruit (4)

Yesterday I soaked all off my seeds in a cup of water. After 12 hours all but 1 Grapefruit seed sank. And by this morning, all 19 seeds have sank. In my experience, the seeds that sink are absorbing water meaning that they are viable. Today I drained the cups and placed damp paper napkins around the seeds. Going to get organic Rapid Rooters ASAP but my hydro store was closed today!

Please feel free to chime in with any comments and/or advice. I'm hoping to learn a lot and maybe teach some others a thing or two about growing.

I have just relocated and this is my first grow where I am the sole caregiver of the plants. All my equipment is recently purchased and this is my first grow with this set-up.

Veg Chamber:
24''x48''x60'' grow tent 75$ + 25$ shipping on Amazon
2- 4 bulb 48'' T5 Sunblaze grow lights
4'' 135cfm oracle inline fan

Flower Chamber:
48''x48''x78'' grow tent 99$ + 25$ shipping on Amazon
1000W Quantum Digital Ballast
Super Sun II reflector
8'' 735cfm oracle inline fan

Nutrients:
Advanced Nutrients Mother Earth Super Tea Grow
Advanced Nutrients Mother Earth Super Tea Bloom
Humboldt Nutrients Roots
Roots Organics Trinity Catalyst
Roots Organics Orgeonism XL
Advanced Nutrients Nirvana

Today all my nutrients have arrived. I got some organic root plugs to place my seeds in. So far, all 19 of my seeds have sprouted roots! I am very excited.

Anyone know anywhere to get a cheap TDS and PH meter. Local hydro store wanted 70$ for PH meter and 110$ for TDS!!!!

I can't seem to figure out how to post pictures either. Some help with that would be much appreciated.

Unfortunately my web supplier was backordered on the roots organics Orgeonism XL and will ship it ASAP. I was looking forward to using it because I've heard good things.

No one on where to get a cheap TDS and PH meter?

Do I have to have 50 posts to attach pictures?

Yes, I think that's true about having so many posts before we can do photos.
Sounds like a winner grow you got planned there. Thanks for sharing, welcome to the forum and best o' luck with the green.

Shovelhandle

I got a PH meter for about $13 at my hydro store. Not sure why yours is so expensive. Just look for a low budget version, perhaps near a pool center. I don't know what TDH is.

Well I'm impatient and found a 35$ TDS meter (to measure PPM or EC levels) at a hydro store and went ahead and got that 70$ PH meter bc I cant wait. My babies are growing fast.

So far I've had 100% success with all of my seeds sprouting and all but 4 are beginning to poke out above the rooters.

I want to throw them in the dwc containers right away with a WEAK solution of Humboldt Roots and AN super tea grow. But I know it's far too soon....

I must practice patience....

Just picked up a TDS meter from local hydro store. My tap water ppm is 470!!!! I have a cheapy '2-stage filter' on my faucet for drinking water. Guess what the ppm is? 470!!! Is this bad for my plants? Definitely won't be needing CalMag or anything like that.

So as I wait to find time to get to the store all but 2 of my little seedlings are poking about the surface of the rooters. Some seem to be stretching over an inch tall and are just about to shed their seed shells and open up their seedling leaves. It might just be me, but they seem to be stretching upwards. Are they reaching for light?

I do not have them under a grow light yet because my veg room is still under construction. Hopefully it'll be done today with a DIY carbon filter and duct muffler.

FYI the 4'' 175cfm oracle fan is LOUD! they are advertised as 'extremely quiet' on the website i purchased them at. Maybe the motor is quiet, but the air rushing out sounds like a hair dryer. I hope my DIY muffler and carbon filter help.

I don't want to be like my friends grow and her little sister asked "why does it sound like you have a vacuum cleaner in your closet?"

I got some organic brown ganular sugar from Walmart because it looked like Sucanat and it was 3$. What is the application rate for this? 1tsp/gallon in veg, 2tsp/gallon flower?

Seed Packs:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/IMG_2685.jpg
Soaking:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/IMG_2686.jpg
Veg Tent:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...er/grow014.jpg
Sprouts!:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...er/grow016.jpg

Ladies and gentlemen, we have roots. Gotta finish up my DWC and grow tent set-up now.

http://http://i71.photobucket.com/al.../grow001-1.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shibbysurfrider

FYI the 4'' 175cfm oracle fan is LOUD! they are advertised as 'extremely quiet' on the website i purchased them at. Maybe the motor is quiet, but the air rushing out sounds like a hair dryer. I hope my DIY muffler and carbon filter help.

I don't want to be like my friends grow and her little sister asked "why does it sound like you have a vacuum cleaner in your closet?"

---

I have a fan similar to yours thats i use in my closet. Its not as loud as your friends, but it tends to keep me up at night sometimes.


I just counter it by smoking some of the weed i grew in the closet. Works like a charm:thumbsup:

yes it does. luckily I dont have to sleep in the room, but I do not want anyone to notice my grow.

So I freaked out about my seeds stretching too much and I rigged up a temporary lighting setup to prevent them stretching to the heavens! My veg chamber is extremely height limited and i need to keep my babies short.

Here are some pix of my temporary set up and some DIY carbon filter, duct muffler and dwc container pictures in the works.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1.../grow001-2.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1.../grow002-1.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...er/grow004.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...er/grow005.jpg
http://http://i71.photobucket.com/al...er/grow006.jpg

So All is going well EXCEPT my GreenHouse Seeds Trainwrecks. Out of the 5 seeds, I fear that 2 have died while trying to emerge above the rooter plugs. 1 of the others is a 2.5'' tall stem with the unopened seed on top and the other 2 that are actually showing leaves look sort of retarded. I'm not sure what to do with these. Yield and quality are very important to me. Should I grow these out? Or start one of the other strains I have lined up?

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...rfrider/41.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...rfrider/42.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...rfrider/43.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...rfrider/45.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...rfrider/46.jpg

finally got my veg chamber up and running! Temps are a little higher than I want so I'll probably have to put frozen bottles in the rez's. One of my mutant trainwrecks that never sprouted is a confirmed goner...

I will give them a week, and if not, then I'll pop either my Reserva Privada Cole Trains or my DNA Genetics Sharksbreath.

I also put the seedlings in a WEAK nutrient solution consisting of Humboldt Roots, Roots Organics Trinity Catalyst and Advanced Nutrients Mother Earth Super Tea Grow.

Thanks man. Right now I'm working from home so I have plenty of time to tend to my babies. I catch myself watching them grow haha. lights are about 4'' from the tops now and the stretching has definitely stopped. After lasts nights move to the DWC containers and veg cab, they have all perked up.

3 of my remaining 4 Trainwrecks seem to be looking more normal now. Weird, bent leaves seem to be growing out normal.


The vanilla Kush look shorter and I can already tell she is gonna have fat indica leaves.

The Super Lemon Haze seemed to stretch the most but have evened out now. Big variation among these, expected from an F1 pheno. Hopefully I pick the right winners to clone.

The Grapefruit are the unknown in this mix. Never smoked or grown, just a strain that caught my eye. An 8 week, maximum yielding sativa. Its supposedly a pineapple pheno C99 crossed with another tropical sativa. Very happy so far. Seedlings are VERY uniform, like i was growing cloned seedlings.

and now the pix!
My setup with fan plugged into light.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14001.jpg
lights on!
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...rider/8132.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14003.jpg
grapefruits
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14011.jpg
retarded trainwrecks
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14009.jpg
stretched super lemon haze
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14006.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14004.jpg

I'd suggest being careful with blowing on them right now. I'd give them at least a few weeks before you use a fan on 'em.

ok will do. thanks.

what is the reason for this? I understand I don't want a tornado in there, but a little breeze? I figured that the wind helps circulate the air and promote strong stems.

I never have had to use any type of support for any of plants during flower and I think its due to I always keep a small fan that keeps them moving around. So much that they grow on a lean and I have to rotate them. In other words they will always benefit from the movement as long as you don't break them.

that's what I figured. they do move quite a lot with the fans on high, but it's not like they're blowing over or anything. my ambient temps are what's killing me.

inside my tent is mid 80s with 30-40% humidity. 90 degrees exactly if I have to shut the closet for stealth reasons.

my res temps are about 10 degrees cooler(mid 70s). should i freeze bottles and put them in the rez?

I wouldn't, res temps are okay if they are 70 I would just keep an eye for anyi issues with roots. The closer the water gets to 80 the higher the chance of issues. Don't worry about the temps so much if its peaking out around 90. I have to battle temps of 115 -125 on the normal and although it takes longer then it should I get an end result. Temps make a difference but if nothing can be done, use your energy to keep an eye on other things. :thumbsup:

115 to 125?!? wow that's really hot. My rez temps got into the high 80s last night. I put in a frozen water bottle in each one and they were thawed and warm within 5 minutes.... My plants seem to be doing OK but I am considering ditching the Trainwrecks and consolidating the remaining plants into 2-10 gallon DWC totes and only running one set of t5s. The room temps these plants are in are in the low 70s. But my tent temps are still in the mid/upper 80s. I wouldnt mind so much if my rez didn't feel like a spa. I'm afraid of my plants going hermie on me. I've heard feminized seeds are more likely to than normal seeds?

So today I checked my rez temps... Exact same as my ambient temps. mid/upper 80s. EEEK!!!! My plants have grown, but the trainwrecks are looking weird/spindly and one fell over limp and died. All my other plants are doing great.

So I decided to take drastic measures, I ditched my 2 level setup and put my remaining plants in 2 10gal DWC totes. I insulated the totes with Stick-on duct insulation on top and foil tape on the sides. I consolidated my 4 air stones and put 2 in each container. I took out one of the t5 strips and my temps are exactly at 80 and my res stays at 70. YAY! I have SO much more room now and I rez changes wont be such a pain.

My plants seem to love it already and I swear there's been growth in the last few hours. First set of true leaves opened yesterday and I can already see the 2nd set forming on 10 out of the 12 plants!!!

I also added half strength Humboldt Roots and Roots Organics Trinity Catalyst.

Advanced Nutrients Mother Earth Super Tea says to add 3.5-7.5ml per liter. So that's close to 15-30ml. I added 2.5mL per gallon of solution.

My TDS meter is all but useless with organics. Barely registers any PPM change.

I will add pix tonight I promise!

Tonight all is well with my revamped grow. I now have 4 plants of each strain:
Grapefruit
Vanilla Kush
Super Lemon Haze

My rez temps are still a little higher than I want (mid 70s) but I'm going to put my air pump on the outside of my grow tent and see if that helps. I swear I can see growth in one day.

PH went from 5.6 to 6.8 over the course of a few hours. I added a little PH down to both rez's and its been stable the last few hours. Hope I prepped my hydroton right.

Some stems are a darker reddish? (i'm mildly color-blind lol) I know this can be due to a deficiency, but the growth seems good on all my plants and only 2 don't show the darker stems, but they are at the same growth stage as the others.

I'm about to embark on a 3-day trip to Mammoth. I can't wait to see how much they grow over the next three days! Until then...

first pic is of my new set up
2nd two are of a super lemon haze that stretched when I had the lights too high but now is doing just dandy
4th pic is of a Vanilla Kush baby
last pic is a grapefruit for some reason I'm the most excited for this strain. and the other two are Cannabis Cup winners... haha

So I'm wondering what nute concentration I should be using right now? I assume very weak, but how weak?

AN recommends 15-30mL of MEST Grow per gallon. Right now I have 2.5mL per gallon.

I have half strength Humboldt Roots and Roots Organics Trinity Catalyst.

Should I put more MEST Grow in? I ask this because All but 2 of my plants have darker/reddish stems. I read this can be Nitrogen or Magnesium deficiency....

Ok well due to amazing new trails in Mammoth, my vacation was not 3 but 5 days. Unfortunately, I didn't cure my hydroton properly and my pH was at 7!!!! All my plants were showing various signs of pH lockout (yellow leaves, deformed growth, spindly). But amazingly they over doubled in size since I left.

Upon further inspection I noticed my rez was full of yellowish/white slime and the temps were 76.

So I put my poor plants into smaller rez with frozen bottles to keep the temp down, and I've been constantly adding pH DOWN to keep the pH at the right level. It's been starting to stabilize after a day. I also purchased HYGROZYME and my plants have been soaking in that. Already all that gunky whitish stuff is falling off and my white roots are showing.

All my plants are turning green again and I swear they are still growing. These babies can take a lot. 1 Vanilla Kush looks like it has nute burn? and another vanilla Kush looks all spindly but its new growth looks normal.

I have purchased calcium and magnesium supplements and got 10 gallons of Sparkletts for my rez (my tap water was at 570ppm this morning). I also bought another air pump and bubble wall to aerate the resevoir even more to prevent rot + add O2.

I will post pictures tonight.

Sorry it's been so long. Between nursing my poor babies back to health and dealing with epic surf conditions, I have had little time to post here. All my babies are doing well. I have 2 'sick' Vanilla Kush and 1 stunted Super Lemon Haze that seem to be recovering well. All my Grapefruit are doing excellent and look the healthiest/largest overall. It's mostly C99 so not a big surprise there.

Here are some pix of my extra air curtain (instead of airstone) and I added an extra air pump. I have 2 pumps rated to 175gallons pumping air into about 15 gallons total lol. Somehow I got green buildup in rez, cleaning and sterilizing this and checking for light leaks.

1st 2 pix are of my rez with the algae or growth in it. Now I have a regimen of frozen bottles keeping the temps 68-72 at all times.
3rd pic is of my Grapefruit.
4th is another Grapefruit.
5th is my sad Vanilla Kush that's browing

some more pix. they all show various signs of nute lockout due to pH being close to 8 for 4 days straight. They were all horribly yellow and look amazing now compared to how they were. These pix were all from yesterday.

1st-3rd pictures are all my other Vanilla Kush plants. Note the one with the super large leaves and the spindly one was feared dead a few days ago but it has new growth that appears normal.
4th-5th are my Super lemon Hazes. One has very large leaves and is tall but the other is very stout. I expected lots of differences bc its an F1 but this is crazy!

Probably due to my noob mistakes. But atleast I'm learning one mistake at a time.

last 2 pix!

those were my other 2 Super Lemon Haze, one seemed to stretch for the moon, then stop growing. The other is staying short.

so how do you like the grow tent!? i saw some yesterday at my local grow store and i was just intregue by them but just a little short on cash atm. what size tent are you working with for your grow?

*pulling chair up to sit and watch while packing the vape*

hey, thanks for stopping by!
As to the tent, for the price, I love it. Any name brand equivalent (HydroHut, GrowLab, Homebox) would have run me about 200$ without shipping. My hut cost 75+25 to ship. The size is 24x48x60''. The material is nice, but I have a few small (smaller than pin hole) size light leaks along the lower zipper. And the vent holes through the top are kida funky, the exhaust out of the top has a 90 degree bend built into it.... But for the price it can't be beat.

I have a 48x48x78 tent for flowering, but I havent even taken it out of the box yet.

It is pretty sturdy and I had 2x 48'' T5 fixtures, a 4'' inline fan and a 12'' carbon scrubber all hanging from the roof of it at once without it even sagging.

Look for them on Amazon, I got mine from LEDwholesalers.

Thanks for th info!! Yea I wanna step it up from cardboard to a tent after this grow I'm doing. Bit just seeing how fast everything is moving in your thread is encouraging me to get one

Grow tents rock if you need a controlled environmentand don't want to build a cabinet. They are a cheap alternative, built in vent holes, intakes, light mounts, light proof and reflective lining. Not as stealth, but it depends on what you need.

So today I got a little worried about my high ambient temps at plant level. After reading, the consensus agreed that anything over 85 F can cause heat stress. My ambient temps hover around high 80s - 90.0 at the hottest. But they stay there. My rez temps stay 67-73 except for an hour or two they reach 75 bc my little frozen bottle wont last overnight.

My new growth looks good, but some leaves are yellowing and some tips are browning... nute burn? Nothing looks too bad.

1 of my Grapefruits is going to be really bushy.

Grow cabinets are great if you can afford them. It actually is cheaper to build your own space. Plus the grow tents are limited in space.

I'm trying to sell mine right now. It's too small.